Xerox Printed Memory is a highly secure printed label including rewritable memory. In one exemplary use, the labels may be used for authentication to determine whether a product is genuine to prevent counterfeiting. For example, the printed memory may be included as a subassembly of a customer-replaceable unit such as various consumable components, supplies, shipment packaging, consumer products, documents, etc. The printed memory may be read, for example, after installation of the unit into a host device and compared to an expected value. If the value read from the printed memory matches the expected value, circuitry within the host device allows the host device to function. If the value read from the printed memory does not match the expected value, the circuitry disables functionality of the host device until an authentic unit is installed.
In another implementation, Xerox Printed Memory may be used to track a product through a manufacturing process and/or a supply chain. The labels can be programmed to mark individual items with a unique electronic identifier that may be verified with a scanner. Other uses for Xerox Printed Memory are contemplated including, but not limited to, smart consumables where an object is associated with data that is later used by a base unit to improve or optimize performance, consumption records where bulk usage of a product supply is tracked, tracking of items or people outside of an manufacturing environment, etc.
A Xerox Printed Memory includes a layer of ferroelectric or ferrite material (i.e., a ferroelectric layer) positioned between a plurality of wiring lines (e.g., word lines and bit lines). A region of the ferroelectric layer situated between each bit line and word line forms a memory cell. The memory may be written with one of two digital memory states by applying a suitable write voltage to the wiring lines. The memory state may be read by applying a suitable read voltage to the wiring lines.
Various manufacturing processes may be used to form the ferroelectric material. Depending on the manufacturing process used, the printed memory device will display particular electrical characteristics. For example, for a given read voltage, different compositions of the ferroelectric layer return different output values. The manufacture and composition of the memory itself is difficult to counterfeit and provides secure and reliable anti-counterfeiting measures and reliable product tracking.